Movies about moody moviemakers and moguls making moody movies: just a tad solipsistic?

God knows, films about "the biz" are nothing new. Their plethora dates from King Vidor's "Show People" (1928) through Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), down to Robert Altman's "The Player" (1992) and the recent "Tropic Thunder." Hopping the Pond, you could include about half of all Godard and Truffaut pictures.

But because the power and paranoia of the industry are so much bigger, richer and more venal here, Hollywood is ever riper for the kind of self-spoofing lamentation and celebration to be found in Barry Levinson's "What Just Happened."

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'What Just Happened'

3 stars = Good
Ratings explained

• Starring: Robert DeNiro, Robin Wright Penn, Stanley Tucci
• Rating:R for language, some violent images, sexual content and some drug material.
• Web site: whatjusthappenedfilm.com

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The best thing to be found in it is Robert De Niro -- looking seriously stressed and fairly ancient, with bags under the bags of his eyes -- as precarious producer Ben. In his current, chaotic Dante's Inferno, he's juggling two ex-wives, a prickly teenage daughter and a production crisis of epic proportions on his "boldly visionary" new movie called "Fiercely," starring Sean Penn.

Chief among the movie's bold visions is a canine execution, which prompts people to leave the preview screening in droves. (Sean's opinion -- "Shooting the dog was awesome!" -- is in the minority.)

Faced with box-office disaster, the tough-as-nails studio boss (Catherine Keener) pushes Ben to push the drug-addled director Jeremy (Michael Wincott) to lighten it up. But Jeremy just goes berserk, pounds the table and insists, "The dog has to die!"

Meanwhile, Ben's devious screenwriter pal Scott (Stanley Tucci) moves in on Ben's ex-wife. And on another treacherous film deal full of out-of-control egos, the furiously abusive Bruce Willis (well played by Bruce Willis) monsterizes his dyspeptic agent (John Turturro) -- a guy who shaves his back in order to be more of a chick magnet.

Real-life producer Art Linson's screenplay here is based on his own memoir, subtitled "Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line." It's in good hands with the Baltimore-born Levinson, who started out as a gag writer for Carol Burnett and Mel Brooks before striking gold with his affectionate, autobiographical debut film "Diner" (1982), followed by a string of popular and critical successes: "The Natural" (1984), "Young Sherlock Holmes" (1985), "Good Morning, Vietnam" and "Rain Man" (both in the milestone year 1988), "Bugsy" (1991), "Sphere" and "Wag the Dog" (both 1997), and "Analyze This" (1999) -- the latter two both with DeNiro.

There are delicious moments: DeNiro and his crowd are all surgically attached to their Bluetooths -- or is Blueteeth the correct plural? The mild Ben vs. wild Bruce dynamic reaches its peak in an over-the-top Willis freak-out, during which DeNiro can barely suppress his own laughter. But my favorite scene -- and monument to tastelessness -- is the funeral of a famous agent who committed suicide, with everybody in yarmulkes and a slow organ version of the Police song "Every Breath You Take" droning quietly underneath.

"What Just Happened" is less than the hoped-for sum of its parts, more playful than cutting-edgy. An international economic meltdown may not be the best time to ask for audience empathy with self-obsessed Seinfeldian schemers, or the follies and foibles of their trade.

It's a world you love to hate -- especially if you're a big wheel in it.